Device for storing a number of items.

Abstract

 The invention relates to a device with on the one side a recipient (24) with a number of receiving rooms, each of which can contain an item, and a closing member (10) with an opening (11), which member is fixedly attached to a detector for determining the presence or absence of an item in a receiving room and, when present, unlocks a bolt (16, 17), so that recipient and closing members can only move with respect to each other when the item is present in the receiving room concerned.

Description

[0001] In relatively many cases one out of a number of items is used in succession. This occurs for example in the case of drills for a drilling machine, files and chisels when making stringed instruments, cutters, reamers etcetera.

[0002] Such items are often accommodated in a device with a recipient containing the same number of receiving rooms for each item, and closing members to close or open each of the receiving rooms, at least part of the closing members being movable with respect to the recipient. Here it is the user's duty to replace an employed item in its original place, but practice shows that this does not always happen, at least occasionally not. This means that the item concerned later has to be searched for or may get lost, for example thrown away together with shavings or other waste matter.

[0003] Searching for an item, for the loss of which one can hold oneself responsible, is an unpleasant occupation, often causing resentment and, therefore, being extremely tiring as well. As a result the loss of items, even if only temporarily, not only causes a direct loss of time, but it also affects the work atmosphere and probably the productivity as well.

[0004] In addition, the items often represent a value not to be disregarded.

[0005] The invention aims at making an improvement in this respect by constructing said device in such way that another item can only be withdrawn when the one used first has been replaced in its proper place. In order to retrieve the next item one has to go to the item holder anyway and when, in doing so, the item previously employed is carried along straight away, virtually no loss of time occurs.

[0006] In order to attain the aforementioned aims, the invention provides for the arrangements indicated in the characterizing section of claim 1.

[0007] A simple embodiment is constituted in that, together with the detector, the closing member is movable with respect to the receiving rooms and has an opening on the location of the detector for admitting an item. Now the simple situation occurs that, when the opening is in the position in which the employed item can be replaced, free movement of the closing member containing the opening is possible immediately upon replacing said item.

[0008] In order to prevent items from being brought into a receiving room in which an item of another type, for instance of a different size, belongs, it is preferably provided that the receiving rooms have size controls that prevent an item of a different size from being accommodated in a receiving room intended for a specific item. For items with various cross-sectional shapes, for example drills with shafts having different cross-sections, it then can simply be provided that the size controls accommodate an admission opening of a first size and/or an admission opening of a smaller size.

[0009] As a detector can be used a metal detector often reacting to electric conductance or ferromagnetism, a light detector based on the interruption of a light beam, as well as a contact to be operated by an item. Such detectors are known in the field of technology and will not be discussed in further detail.

[0010] A relatively simple embodiment of the invention, which takes little room, is constituted in that the recipient and the closing members are flat and can slide along each other. Here the recipient can slide back and forth behind a closing part containing an opening and said sliding motion can be blocked when behind the opening an item has been removed.

[0011] Another embodiment is constituted in that the recipient and the closing part are mainly cylindrical.

[0012] In this it is preferably provided that it has a base or a fastening part, onto which a cylindrical closing member provided with an opening is secured and a recipient coaxial in relation to said closing member, the detector having been mounted at the location in the direction of rotation of the opening in fixed position with respect to the fastening part or the closing member. In case of an embodiment with a base it may be placed on a supporting surface such as a table, while a fastening part can be constructed in such manner that the device can be attached to the machine, the items for which it contains.

[0013] In order to be able to remove the items in the receiving room in their totality, without unauthorized persons having the opportunity to do so, it can be provided in accordance with a further elaboration of the invention that the base or the fastening part carries a central column cooperating with a lock in order to be able to respectively secure and remove the recipient in axial direction.

[0014] An additional advantage of the invention is that measuring the items to be used, such as the calibre of drills, can be avoided when it is provided that an information scale indicating data of each item allocated to a receiving room, is mounted in a fixed position with respect to the recipient.

[0015] Another embodiment of the invention may be that the recipient constitutes a cassette. In that case the items, upon having been received into the cassette, no longer need to be removed and can immediately be used in a device according to the invention. When they need to undergo a treatment, such as drills having to be sharpened, it is simple and timesaving to send off the entire cassette.

[0016] In order to avoid possible difficulties when detecting items of different sizes, such as drills with a thickness of, for example, 0.5 mm up to over 6 mm, when applying the invention it can be provided that localization means determine the place of the items of different thickness in such manner that for items with a smaller thickness the distance to the detector is at most equal to that of an item having the greatest thickness. In this it is achieved that the detector is located closer to the thin shafts than to the thick ones, as a result of which the detection of thick and thin shafts becomes equally reliable.

[0017] Naturally, it is desired to protect the device in accordance with the invention against fraud, for example by rendering it impossible that an item is taken from a receiving room adjacent to the receiving room cooperating with an opening. This can easily be achieved by means of the opening's shape, for example by giving it an all surrounding rim, or by the shape of the receiving room, in such way that it is impossible to bypass it with the fingers or the like.

[0018] The invention will hereinafter be further explained, reference being made tot the drawing, where:

fig.1 shows an elevational view, partially in cross-section, of an embodiment of the invention; and

fig. 2 shows a view from above of the device according to fig. 1, likewise partially in elevational view and partially in cross-section over the line II-II.

[0019] In fig. 1, by 1 a base is indicated, which for greater stability of the entirety has preferably been weighted, by means of among other things a schematically indicated transformer 2. It will, however, be clear that the invention can likewise be applied with a battery supply, whether rechargeable or not, or with supply from a source of permissible low voltage.

[0020] The base has a base plate 3 that can be screwed off, a cylindrical upright portion 4 and a top plate 5 having in its middle a central hole 6, around which a central cylinder 7 has been fitted, around which in its turn a fixed ring 8 is situated, with an axis of symmetry 37. To said ring 8 the bottom plate 9 of the closing means has been attached, which means furthermore contain a cylinder 10 with an opening 11. In addition, to the plate 9 a detector 14 has been fitted by means of a supporting member 12 to which a bracket 13 has been secured. The supporting member 12 is immovable with respect to the closing member 9, 10 and the case 7. For the sake of clarity the opening 11 has been drawn in elevational view, but in the actual device it is situated with its middle longitudinal plane coinciding with a radial plane through the heart of the detector 12.

[0021] A supporting member 15 for a solenoid 16 with core 17 has fixedly been attached to the top side of the case 7. A plate 18 with a connecting cylindrical part 19 and a flange 20 at 21 is carried through the case 7 and rests on the case at 22 and on the cylinder at 23.

[0022] Fixed to the cylindrical part 19 of the top plate 18 a case 24 has been secured, which may also constitute an entirety with 18, 19 and 20 and is provided with recesses that serve as receiving rooms for the items 28.

[0023] The case 24 carries at its bottom side a ring 25, in which an number of holes 26 are situated. Beneath the ring 25 a ring 27 has been secured by means not drawn, the inner diameter of which is slightly smaller than the one of ring 25. Said diameters have been selected in such manner that a drill 28 of a certain calibre will indeed pass through the ring 25, but that it gets stuck on ring 27. A drill of too large a size will not pass through ring 27 and a drill of too small a size will fall through the ring 27.

[0024] In the bottom side of the plate 18 a series of not completely perforated holes 29 is situated, each of which can cooperate with the solenoid pin 17. When in the position as drawn in fig. 1 the detector 14 detects the drill 28, the pin 17 will be withdrawn from the hole 29 and the entirety 18, 19, 20, 24, 25 and 27 together with the items located therein can be rotated around the case 7. Each time a hole 29 is opposite the solenoid pin 17, the detector will withdraw the pin so that a free rotation is possible. As long as the drill 28 is not in the place as drawn, the solenoid pin 17 will be in the opening 29 and the indicated rotation of the part carrying the items with regard to the closing member including the detector is impossible.

[0025] On the top plate 18 four manually graspable members 30 are shown. A lock plate fixedly attached to the plate 18 carries a lock 32, which has a bolt 33 that can cooperate with a groove 34 in the case 7. In turning the key 35 the parts 18, 19, 20, 31, 32 and 33 can now be moved upward, and so can the recipient 24, which has the different receiving rooms for the different items.

[0026] As has been shown more in particular in fig. 2, the holes 26 with their insides 36 are always located at the same radial distance d from the detector, as a result of which it is prevented that the drills, which naturally cause a smaller reaction for a metal detector, would on top of that be further removed from said detector. It is even possible to accommodate drills with smaller diameters in holes that are situated closer to the detector than drills of a larger diameter.

[0027] The outside of the part 19 is provided with an indication of the drills's calibres, being in the same location, seen in circumferential direction.

[0028] In order to prevent the pin 17 from dancing when the recipient moves with respect to the detector 14 and in the process temporarily detects no item, the solenoid 16, which is to withdraw the pin 17, preferably has a delay in de-energizing.

[0029] By no means is the invention restricted to the drawn and specified embodiment. It is possible, for example, to replace the base by a clamp or a similar holding means, which allows for an easy fastening onto the pillar of a drilling machine.

[0030] Neither is it necessary that the closing member 9, 10 and the recipient 24 be circular. Both can for example be produced in a flat shape, 10 being a disc with an opening that is similar to the drawn opening 11. The recipient 24 can also be in the form of a cassette, which may be considerably labour saving when selling a complete set of drills as well as when having them sharpened.

[0031] It is also possible to construct a flat or cylindrical device in accordance with the invention, which accommodates an unlockable closing part for each receiving room containing an item, which can only be unlocked when a detector, which can slide along all the receiving rooms, does not lock itself when an item such as 28 occupies the receiving room concerned. In addition, the opening of the closing member concerned must only be possible if the detector has arrived at the location cooperating with said closing member.

Claims

1.Device for withdrawing a number of items with a recipient (24) containing the same number of receiving rooms for each item, and closing members (9,10,37) to close or open each of the receiving rooms, at least part of the closing members being movable with respect to the recipient, characterized in that the part of the closing members (10, 9, 12, 13, 14) that is movable with respect to the recipient (24), contains a detector 14, which with respect to the recipient can take said number of positions, in each of which it cooperates with one of the receiving rooms, and transmits a signal consistent with the absence or presence of an item (28), a locking device (17, 29) being present to prevent the movement of the detector with respect to the recipient (24) at the signal indicating the absence of an item, and that the closing members are open or can be opened in front of the receiving room with which the detector cooperates.

2. Device as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that, together with the detector, the closing member is movable with respect to the receiving rooms and has an opening on the location of the detector for admitting an item.

3. Device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the receiving rooms have size controls (25, 27) that prevent an item of a different size from being accommodated in a receiving room intended for a specific item (28).

4. Device as claimed in claim 3 for items with different cross-sections, characterized in that the size controls accommodate an admission opening of a first size (26) and/or an admission opening (27) of a smaller size.

5. Device as claimed in claims 1 - 4, characterized in that the detector is a metal detector.

6. Device as claimed in claims 1 - 4, characterized in that the detector is a light detector.

7. Device as claimed in claims 1 - 4, characterized in that the detector comprises a contact to be operated by an item.

8. Device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the recipient and the closing members are flat and can slide along each other.

9. Device as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the closing members have a size in the slide direction, which amounts to approximately twice the size of the recipient between the first and the last receiving room.

10. Device as claimed in any of the claims 1 - 7, characterized in that the recipient (24) and the closing portion (10) are mainly cylindrical.

11. Device as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that it has a base or a fastening part (1), onto which a cylindrical closing member (10) provided with an opening is secured and a recipient (24) coaxial in relation to said closing member, the detector having been mounted at the location in the direction of rotation of the opening in fixed position with respect to the fastening part or the closing member.

12. Device as claimed in claim 11, characterized in that the base or the fastening part carries a central column cooperating with a lock in order to be able to respectively secure and remove the recipient in axial direction.

13. Device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that an information scale indicating data of each item allocated to a receiving room, is fixedly attached to the recipient.

14. Device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the recipient constitutes a cassette.

15. Device as claimed in any of the preceding claims, characterized in that localization means (25, 27) determine the place of the items of different thickness in such manner that for items (28) with a smaller thickness the distance to the detector (14) is at most equal to that of an item having the greatest thickness.

Drawing